Foot-guard for railways



(No Model.)

T; GRIFFIN. FOOT GUARD FOR RAILWAYS.

No. 882,0 8. Patented May 1,1888.

1 HNITED STATES PATENT error.

THOMAS A. GRIFFIN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FOOT-=GUARD FOR RAILWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 382,083, dated May 1,1888.

Application filed October 29, 1887.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS A. GRIFFIN, of Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful I111-provements in FootGuards for Railways, of which the following is a fullspecification.

My invention is designed for application to I railwaytracks at allpoints where there is i danger of catching the foot, as at frogs,switches, and guard-rails.

My invention consists in the parts and combinations hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a frog having my improvedfootguard applied. Fig. 2 is a section on line .90 at, Fig. 1. Fig. 3shows the foot-guard applied to a switch and Fig. 4 to a guard-rail.Figs. 5 and 6 are perspective views of the guard detached.

A, Fig. 6, shows the guard in its simplest form. It consists of a pieceof wrought metal of a T shape, most easily and cheaply made from a shortsection of a T-rail, thestem being produced by drawing out the head andweb of the rail-section,whileits foot forms the end of the guard. Ahole, a, is made in the othercnd to afford a place for fastening theguard.

To secure the guard in a frog a slot, 6, Fig. 1, is cut in the filling,so as to intersect the bolt 0, and the end of the guard is inserted, sothat the bolt 0 serves to keep it in place. At the other end of the frogtwo guards are used, their ends ovcrlappin'g, and are held by a singlebolt, D, passing through the guards and rails or through only one rail.Washers E E are placed between the rails and the guards to keep thelatter in position.

By reference to the section, Fig. 2, it will be seen that the guard Ahas its upper surface about level with the under side of the head of therail, being just low enough to allow the wheel-flanges to passoveritwithout touching.

The corners c 0 c c of the guard bear against the head and flange of therail at their junction with the web, holding the guard securely inSerial No. 258,735. (No model.)

place, so that the stem of the guard bisects with more or less accuracythe space between the rails, neither of the openings on each side of thestem being large enough to admit the foot.

The form of guard shown in Fig. 6 is adapted to be bolted to the rail orfrog in the manner already described, and as further shown in Fig. 4';but I have devised a modification which may be secured without bolts,and hence without drilling the rails. is shownin Fig. 5, and at A, Figs.1 and 3.

The end ofthe stem of theT is given a quartor-twist, or is otherwiseflattened, and a spike hole punched in it,by which it may be fastened.

Among the advantages of this improved footguard are its oheapness anddurability. Snow and ice accumulations, crush and destroy wooden orsheet-metal guards under the action of passing wheels; but this guard,being open below and presenting only an edge surface, offers noobstruction or resistance to water, snow, and ice.

The brace may be made out of east or malleable iron or steel; butIconsider railsections as preferable, being stronger and not moreexpensive.

-I claim 1. A foot-guard for railways, consisting of a T-shaped singlepiece of metal formed from a short section of rail by drawing out thehead thereof to form the stem of the T, the flange thereof forming thehead of the T, and the stem being pierced near its end for the receptionof a bolt or other fastening.

2. A foot-guard for railways, consisting of a piece of T-shapedmetal,its head constructed to rest upon the rails,and its stem beingtwisted or flattened at its end and provided with a spike-hole,substantially as described.

THOMAS A. GRIFFIN.

\Vitnesses:

' J. I. VEEDER,

P. H. T. Mason.

This modification

